The present invention relates to a system and its method of installation that retards the intrusion of vapor into a refrigerated building. More particularly, an integrated roofing/wall and floor/wall membrane is mechanically and adhesively affixed about the building structure in an intertwining manner about the building members so as to prevent the ingress of moisture into the refrigerated enclosure.
Refrigerated structures such as commercial freezers, maintain a lower internal temperature and pressure than the surrounding ambient atmosphere. This causes moisture vapor ridden air to migrate into the structure wherein it condenses onto the exterior surfaces of the structural members it contacts. This results in unwanted water and ice accumulating on such items as fire suppression systems, food products, building members and the like. Besides causing rot to building members, further structural damage occurs when water infiltrates cracks and crevices in the building members and later freezes and expands.
The most typical point of ingress is the roof/wall interface and the floor/wall interface. The majority of prior art systems, while sealing a roofing system to a wall, have focused on preventing liquid water ingress rather than water vapor ingress. Generally, the prior art joins various dissimilar elements such as flashings, pleated membranes, craft paper, compression gaskets, fiberglass roofing and the like in various ways to form a retrofitted seal which to date has failed to adequately address the problem. At any interface between these various elements there is the potential for a seal failure. Further, since most prior art systems are adapted to be installed about the existing structure rather than integrated completely with the building's structural members, they often are capable of preventing much of the moisture ingress into the refrigerated structure yet leave some or partial sections of building members such as joists, headers, rim plates and sills exposed.
The present invention requires the removal of the cooler roof, and the installation of a moisture proof 40-50 mil thick sheet polymer roofing membrane onto the cooler wall panels, over the top sill plate, over the top header ledger board and onto the roof, overlapping the sheet polymer roofing material that covers the roof, to which is it welded thus making an impermeable seal. A similar arrangement is utilized at the floor/wall juncture. To ensure that there are no perforations in the sealed unit, a flexible polymer mastic and a double sealing strip are incorporated thereby ensuring the unitary integrity of the system.
Henceforth, a vapor intrusion retardant system and method of installation would fulfill a long felt need in the commercial refrigeration industry. This new invention utilizes and combines known and new technologies in a unique and novel configuration to overcome the aforementioned problems and accomplish this.